


don't hold your breath

by celestialfics



Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Halloween, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 12:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16367657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celestialfics/pseuds/celestialfics
Summary: Thinking back, Billy isn't quite sure whose idea this was. Maybe it was both of theirs at once, or no one's—just a coincidence—but either way, he and Teddy are standing just outside the door to the indoor pool in Kate's house, fully decked in Halloween costumes.





	don't hold your breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sleepyneko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepyneko/gifts).



> hello happy october i LOVE wickling 
> 
> title from dive by coast modern :)  
> enjoy!

Thinking back, Billy isn't quite sure whose idea this was. Maybe it was both of theirs at once, or no one's—just a coincidence—but either way, he and Teddy are standing just outside the door to the indoor pool in Kate's house, fully decked in Halloween costumes.

Well, that last part makes sense, considering they're here because Kate is throwing a Halloween party. But everyone else is still upstairs, mingling around the various snacks set out around the kitchen island, and Billy and Teddy are quite obviously  _not._ Kate has a lot of friends, actually, and Billy was starting to feel a bit cramped in the kitchen, despite the size of the room. And Teddy, the observant, considerate angel that he is—Billy curses in his head; he's too far gone, really—had inquired quietly, "You wanna go somewhere else?"

Billy's palms are sweating now, partly because they didn't ask Kate's permission to explore her house or, more importantly, even go near her pool, and partly because Teddy is dressed up as an ancient Roman and that toga he's wearing is revealing just enough to make Billy's mind race. He feels overdressed in his vampiric attire, and he tugs at the collar.

"We don't have to go in," Teddy comments, as if he can read Billy's thoughts. (And, well, he sure  _hopes_ that's not the case. Because that would be awkward, considering everything.) "We can just go back, if you want."

Billy's not entirely certain how he ended up here, but being alone with the boy he's been crushing majorly on since they first met through Kate about a year ago isn't something he's eager to pass up on. So, he swallows thickly, sets his jaw, and says, "Let's go in."

The response feels far too serious for the situation, which the reality of suddenly dawns on him as kind of hilarious. A giggle bubbles up from his chest and then Teddy's smiling at him, too, and he might as well melt right now into a puddle on the floor. Instead, though, he places a hand on the handle of the door to the pool and then swings it open, gesturing for Teddy to go in before him.

"What a gentleman," Teddy teases, corners of his mouth still pulled upwards. Billy feels his cheeks grow hot—not that they weren't warm already, because they most definitely were.

The room is humid, warm air washing over the boys as they step inside. The lights are off, but moonlight streams in through the windows that span the walls of the room, so it's light enough to see. It's quiet, too, except for the steady hum of the pool filter.

"You know," Billy starts, looking around the room, "I didn't know Kate was  _this_ rich. How rich do you have to be to have a swimming pool  _inside_ your house?"

Teddy snorts, "Pretty rich."

There's a tick of comfortable silence, and then Teddy leans down to slide off his sandals. Billy watches him for a moment before following suit, squatting to untie his boots and slip off his socks.

Teddy's first to approach the pool, sticking his toe into the water. "It's nice," he says, gathering the bottom of his toga into his hands and then sitting on the edge of the pool, sticking his legs into the water up to his shins. He lays the loose fabric of the toga to the side of him, and then he pats the space next to him, beckoning Billy to sit.

He hesitates for just a moment, and then he rolls up his pants to just below his knees and joins Teddy at the edge of the pool. Teddy was right, the water is warm: a perfect, comfortable temperature for a swimming pool. Teddy kicks his feet in the water, creating soft ripples that lap against the side.

"Do you think they'll come looking for us?" Billy questions, throwing a look back over his shoulder at the door.

Teddy lets out a chuckle, "I'm not sure if they noticed we left."

 _Hope not_ , Billy thinks. "Hm, yeah," he says instead, "They probably didn't."

"Considering how huge this house is, even if they did, I think it'd take them a while to find us," Teddy says, tone lilted with humor. It makes Billy smile.

"Right," Billy replies, eyes trailing to the way Teddy's hands press against the tile beside him, fingers splayed. Billy notices that Teddy's fingernails are painted white, and then he tears his gaze away a second later in case Teddy were to catch him looking, and they again fall into silence. It's nice, to just be together like this. Billy could probably just sit here with Teddy in the quiet forever and be content, he thinks.

"I'm glad you came tonight," Teddy breaks the lull after a few moments, turning his head to look at Billy. Billy shies under his gaze. His jacket feels much too hot, now.

"You are?" he asks, his throat feeling tight. God, he's pathetic—Teddy says a word to him and he gets tongue-tied like some middle schooler. (Which he isn't, by the way! He's seventeen years old and completely capable of structuring coherent sentences in front of everyone who isn't cute and blond and muscular and  _Teddy_ , okay!) He shrugs off his jacket and lets it fall to the ground behind him.

"Mhm," Teddy hums, "It's not like I don't like everyone else, it's just—they can be a lot sometimes, you know? And you're—" he breaks off, like he's unsure if he should continue.

Billy looks over to him, eyes alight with curiosity. Now it's Teddy's turn to shy away.

"Never mind, it's stupid," Teddy says after a while, letting out a long breath. His hands fidget in his lap.

"I bet it isn't," Billy replies, blinking at him. "But I—I think I know what you mean. So you don't have to say it."

Teddy glances back to Billy, slight grin tugging at his lips. Billy smiles back, swishing his feet in the water.

"I'm glad you came, too," he says after mustering a bit of courage. "If you hadn't, I probably would have just ended up hoarding a bowl of chips in the corner by myself."

Teddy laughs a twinkling kind of laugh and it takes all Billy's self control not to visibly swoon. (He probably still fails, actually.)

And maybe it's the adrenaline and nerves Billy feels because of the entire situation speaking here, but he says, "I wanna go in."

Teddy raises an eyebrow. "Like,  _in_ -in? Swimming?"

Billy blinks at him and then nods. "Do you?"

Smiling disbelievingly and shaking his head, Teddy mutters, "You're something else, Kaplan," and then, a bit louder, he replies, "Yeah, sure. Why not."

And, well, Billy can think of about a dozen reasons  _why not_ , but none of them seem to really matter in that moment, so he echoes, "Why not!"

Before he has the chance to think himself out of this, Billy unbuttons his ruffled over shirt so he's in the white t-shirt he'd been wearing under it, and he glances over to see Teddy slipping out of his toga until he's just in his boxers and a laurel wreath. Billy swallows thickly and averts his gaze, shimmying out of his black pants and tossing them off to the side.

"Jump in on three?" Teddy suggests after he's lain the laurel wreath on top of the piled toga on the ground, and Billy has to bite the inside of his cheek to distract himself from the fact that Teddy is— _in his boxers_ —

Billy's tongue darts out to wet his lips before he nods. "Yeah, on three."

"Okay," Teddy replies. "One... two..."

Before he gets to three, Billy jumps into the water, the comfortable warmth of it suddenly feeling a bit colder now that it encases his entire body. He feels the water shift as Teddy follows him in. When Billy emerges above the surface, he runs his hand through his hair to get it off of his forehead, and then he lets out a boisterous laugh.

The pool is fairly large, but Teddy is  _very_  close. Billy splashes water at him and he splashes back, though neither of them distance themselves from the other.

It takes a little while, but soon enough, both of them are breathless, spirited laughter cutting back into short bursts of undertone giggles each time they meet each other's eyes.

"Hey, hey," Teddy eventually speaks, though he's still smiling, "Stop moving for a second. You got some—" he breaks off, lifting his hand to drag his thumb just near the corner of Billy's mouth. "Your face paint. It was all smudged."

Billy swallows thickly, almost frozen in place. His eyes dart between Teddy's, and Teddy doesn't move his hand. Billy's face burns where Teddy is touching it. "Right," he forces out, "Uh, forgot about that, thanks."

Teddy lets out an amused huff, drawing his hand back and then saying, "You actually look pretty good with fangs, though."

"Good thing they're not fake then," Billy jokes, trying to distract himself from how hot his face feels, trying to distract himself from how Teddy's skin glistens in the moonlight like he's some sort of ancient god sculpted by the forces of nature and dropped right into Billy's life just to... what, torture him by being so beautiful?

Billy clears his throat. Teddy is still so close. Like, if Billy just pressed up onto the tips of his toes—

Well, Teddy actually beats him to it, because suddenly there are strong arms wrapping around Billy's torso, pulling him even closer to Teddy than he'd already been, and Billy's eyes flutter shut before Teddy's lips meet his own. It's easy, the way Billy's hands find their way to the back of Teddy's neck, one long kiss and then a break, both of them staring at each other with wide eyes.

Billy's heart jackrabbits in his chest, and he's certain Teddy can feel it against his own. Up close like this, Billy realizes that Teddy's eyelashes are longer than he had thought. Teddy lets out a long breath before his lips break into a grin, and Billy can't help but follow, giddiness bubbling up from his chest.

It's hardly a moment like this before Billy pushes up on his toes to meet Teddy's mouth with his own again, fingers carding through the short hair at the base of Teddy's head. This time, the kisses are more urgent, lips parting and reconnecting hastily, like they're fighting against time itself. There's a faint taste of chlorine, and Teddy's fingertips trail against the small of Billy's back underwater over his thin, saturated t shirt.

They break apart again, smiling breathlessly at one another.

"That was probably overdue," Teddy comments, and Billy admires how Teddy blushes splotchily from his cheeks and down his neck.

"Probably," Billy echoes, trailing his fingers against Teddy's neck, following his blush. And as much as he would give to stay like this until the sun came up, Billy has a creeping feeling that the other party goers may be wondering about their whereabouts now, and he'd rather not have this private moment shattered by someone finding them here.

So, he says, "I don't want anyone to catch us," and then he leans up to kiss Teddy once more before he pulls away to hoist himself up out of the pool. Teddy follows him and then steps over to the stack of towels that sit in the corner of the room, throwing one to Billy and then drying himself off.

Billy peels off his soaked shirt and wrings it out, and once he's sufficiently dried off, he starts to reassemble his costume. (His boxers are still damp but there's not a whole lot he can do about that right now, so he'll deal.) Teddy has it easier in this aspect, as all he has to do is throw on his toga and fix his laurel wreath atop his head. His hair, though, is sticking in every direction from when he'd dried it with the towel, so Billy suppresses a laugh before reaching to pat down Teddy's hair. As if to return the favor, Teddy starts buttoning up Billy's shirt.

Once he's finished, Billy kisses him again, chaste and followed with a shy smile. Happiness and disbelief swirl beneath Billy's skin as it sinks in what he just  _did_ , and Teddy seems to mirror this feeling, his gaze fixed on Billy and mouth set in an immutable grin.

"I've liked you for a long time," Billy confesses as he shrugs his costume jacket back on. "Like, as long as I've known you." He's embarrassing himself at this point, really, but after everything that's just happened, he doesn't really mind.

"Then that was  _really_ overdue," Teddy replies, his hand finding Billy's and their fingers intertwining. "As soon as Kate introduced you, I..." he trails off. "Yeah, it was overdue."

Billy laughs and leans over to kiss Teddy's cheek.

They head back to the party, then, and maybe they'll have some explaining to do, what with the wet hair and ruined makeup and entwined hands, but both of them are a bit too high on each other to care much.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](http://twitter.com/liquidsaints) & [tumblr](http://liquidsaints.tumblr.com/)
> 
> thanks for reading! <3


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